The Hero's Curse
by S. Haze
Summary: Nico di Angelo isn't a very lucky guy. He stands powerful and alone. But what happens when a certain sparky girl threatens to change that? What happens when an oath to the hunting goddess is broken and a depressed young man finds his equal? Answer: All Hades breaks lose. Enjoy this unlikely love story that's jam-packed with twists and turns.
1. Death's Hand

This story takes place as if the Hero's of Olympus series was never created!

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NONE OF THE CHARACTERS/3

Enjoy :3

**Nico di Angelo:**

The dining hall was usually fuller with people, but tonight it was almost empty. I stood up with my plate of fresh cooked chicken and ripe fruit. Slowly I made my way over to the large fire to offer food to my father, Hades.

When I was close enough to the fire to feel its flames, I softly murmured the same prayer to my dad as I had been saying for the past two weeks:

_"Father please stop me from hurting anybody else. Please"_ I dropped half of my chicken into the flickering flames.

Walking back to my table I felt a familiar tug in my chest.

Percy Jackson was close.

Over the past couple of weeks every time I got close to Percy a familiar tug would pull in my chest and I hated it.

Around the same time Annabeth and I had learned bad news. Percy's Achilles spot was infected with some kind of slow spreading poison. Nobody knew how it had happened except for me, but everyone knew he was dying.

Still, nobody knew better than me. Anytime Percy was within a twenty foot radius of me I knew. A pull in my gut would tell me a dead man was walking.

And that wasn't the worst part. Because of my curse, because I was son of Hades, I could feel inside of my gut when people were dying. I could sense Percy was dying. But the worst part was that I knew what was killing him, and I couldn't stop it.

I grabbed my food and walked fast to get out of the dining hall. As I passed a trash can, I dumped the rest of my uneaten chicken and fruit. I was suddenly not very hungry. I hurried to leave, but still I was too slow.

Just as my foot was crossing the doorway to the outside, Annabeth called my name. Reluctant to even show that I heard her, I slowly turned around.

And there she was. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in its normal pony tail and she was wearing an orange Camp Half-blood T-shirt. Her jeans had a hole in the knee and she was gripping Percy's hand in hers like she was afraid she would suddenly lose him. Her gray eyes were fierce as she looked me over. Ohmigod. She was cool and everything but Annabeth treated me like a baby sometimes.

"Where have you been? Do you know how worried we were?" she demanded in what I like to call her 'mothering voice.'

Instead of answering her questions I tried to start a new topic. "Hey the chicken tonight is really good." like I would know.

"That's all you have to say? You owe us an excuse." crap. She was using her 'I'm so gonna kick your butt' voice.

I didn't like making Annabeth mad but what she didn't understand was that I couldn't be around her and Percy or anyone for that matter. For the past couple of weeks I have been working my best to ignore everybody. Nobody was safe around me anymore.

I said in a voice that was steel, "Give it a rest Annabeth. I don't owe you anything. Haven't you figured it out that I just want to be alone? So please…Leave. Me. Alone."

I swallowed a thick lump that formed in my throat, and tried for a second time to leave the dining hall. Percy stud up, stopping me from leaving the room once again.

"Don't you dare ever speak to her like that again Di Angelo. Do you understand me? Never."

I turned to see Percy standing beside Annabeth now. Percy's dark hair was messy and flying in every direction. His face was hallowed in and as pale as a ghost. He was wearing cutoff jeans and a camp half-blood shirt. His green eyes that were usually soft and kind and maybe even a little mysterious were now filled with a look of loathing. At the moment he hated me.

It looked like Annabeth was trying really hard not to cry, and the thought of that made me want to punch myself in the stupid mouth. Percy was struggling to stay up, but I knew there was no way he would leave Annabeth undefended, even when he was dying.

Then the worst idea came to me. Without even thinking about how stupid it was, I said "what are you going to do about it Jackson?" and I punched him in his face. I know what you're probably thinking, how could I do that to someone so close to death?

But the truth was I couldn't help myself. Percy had everything. Well, at least he used to. Percy had friends that trusted him and a girl to call his own. In lots of ways I was jealous of him.

But I didn't like Annabeth. She was pretty and nice and very smart, but she wasn't my type.

I was jealous of him mostly because he could be near people and not kill them. He could hang out with friends and not worry about them dropping dead like flies right in front of him. He could go to sleep at night and not see everybody who he was putting in danger every second of everyday behind his eyelids. I was jealous of him most of all because he was lucky, and I was not.

After I had punched Percy, I turned on my heal and left the dining hall. Third times the charm.

**Thalia Grace:**

I walked into the dining hall to find Percy on the ground with a bloody nose and Annabeth standing over him. She looked angry enough to kill someone as she was trying to help him with all of the blood that was pouring out of his face.

"What happened?" I demanded.

Without missing a beat Annabeth answered, "He just punched him and ran off!"

Annabeth wasn't really ever this blond. It was pretty obvious Percy had been punched, and Annabeth was the only other person in the room besides Percy and me. I was willing to bet my life that Annabeth didn't punch him.

"Were did he go?" I asked not even caring who it was I was about to hunt down. Who had the heart, or rather not the heart, to punch somebody that was dying? Whoever it was I was going to have a darn good time beating their brains out.

Annabeth was silent for a moment and then she whispered "he went into the woods I think. But Thalia please don't..."

I never got the chance to hear what she was saying. Before she had even finished her sentence, I was heading towards the woods with one of my arrows drawn. I walked at an abnormally quick pace as I entered the woods and I was ready to meet the jerk that thought it was ok to punch my friend.

What i wasn't expecting was to find an emo looking boy sitting with his head in his hands near Zeus's fist.

Zeus's fist was a pile of rocks that formed the shape of a closed hand. It was a very popular spot for capture the flag.

Sitting at the base of the natural statue that was devoted to my father, was a guy that looked about my age, maybe even a year or two older. He was wearing black jeans and a white T-shirt with a skull design on it. He had on black low top converse and his hair was dark as night. Even when he was sitting down I could tell he was tall, maybe six feet. His body was well built and muscular, but not overly so. In not so many words, the boy I was looking at was hot.

Scaring me half to death, without even lifting his head from his hands the boy said in a clear voice, "Lower your bow Thalia Grace."

"Not over my dead body." I said with just as much confidence. I didn't care if he was really cute, he had punched Percy. No matter how good looking, that was at the top of the list of things not to do.

"You should really pick your words more carefully. Please don't mention any 'dead bodies' to me. I have seen more than enough."

And then it hit me like a brick wall.

"Nico Di Angelo." I said with utter disbelief. Of all the people to harm Percy, I would have never guessed Nico.

The stranger I thought I knew slowly lifted his head from his hands and looked me in the eyes. He had dark eyes, almost as dark as his hair.

"Why would you do this?" I whispered. I suddenly knew what Annabeth was going to say when I left the dining hall. She was going to say "don't hurt him."

And it was no wonder. Annabeth thinks of Nico as a little brother. How could she not? No matter how much she hated people hurting Percy, she couldn't stand people hurting Nico. When Nico was left alone people had picked on him, and after Nico's sister died, Annabeth and Percy were all the people Nico trusted.

But what had changed that? Why was Nico suddenly running around punching Percy?

"Why I did what I did is none of your business. Get out of here Thalia."

"What do you mean it's none of my business?" I demanded. "I come back to camp Half-blood to visit my _dying _friend, and I find him on the ground with a bloody nose. Please _try_ to explain to me how that is none of my business." I kept my voice calm as I spoke, careful not to let my temper get too far out of control.

"You don't even know the whole story Thalia so don't start judging." Nico stud up in one fluid movement proving my suspicions about his height. "You have been gone far too long to pretend you know anything about me so don't judge me."

Unfortunately he was right. The only Nico Di Angelo I knew was a small eleven year old boy that played with game cards all day. This was obviously not the same person. This Nico had maybe the same hair and lips, but the eyes were different. The old Nico had bright eyes that were always filled with joy and happiness. The new Nico had the eyes of a person that has seen more sadness and death in the world then I would have thought possible. The new Nico was more alone.

Without even thinking of what I was doing, I lowered my bow and slowly walked over to were Nico was now standing. When I was close enough to touch him, I reached my hand out and placed it on his shoulder. He didn't back away.

I let out a long breath that I hadn't realized I was holding and was surprised when I herd Nico do the same.

"I'm sorry." I admitted. "I didn't mean to judge you. Explain your side of the story and then I will tell you my opinion."

"I don't care about your opinion." Nico said halfheartedly.

But I knew it was a lie as soon as I heard it. "Nico please trust me. You _can_ trust me. I promise not to judge until I hear the full story."

To my utter disbelief, Nico Di Angelo sank to the ground, landing with his legs crossed like a pretzel and his head in his hands. It looked like a practiced position. After taking a few minutes to gather his thoughts, Nico began his story with a sentence that I could swear I hadn't heard correctly.

"I'm the one that has been poisoning Percy."

Oh, how evil of me to stop there! Hope you liked it, please comment any ideas for future chapters! No promises, but go ahead and give me ideas anyway!


	2. Broken

**Nico Di Angelo:**

I can honestly say the look on Thalia's face was priceless. Her bright blue eyes that were framed with black eye liner were wide and disbelieving. Her mouth was in a small shocked "o" shape, and her breathing seemed to have stopped somewhere in her throat. I might have smiled or even laughed if what I was saying wasn't the cold truth.

I stared into her eyes for what seemed like years and she stared back into mine searching, _hoping_ to find proof that what I was saying was a joke. I knew with dead certainty that this was no joke. I was killing my best friend.

She finally decided that what I said was true. Thalia surprised me by acting in the exact opposite way I thought she would. Instead of jumping up and accusing me of being a murderer like any sane person, she took a calming breath and then said in a clear voice, "okay. I'm sure it's not as bad as it sounds, and I said I wouldn't judge you. What's your story Nico?"

Wow. Who would have guessed that? Now it was my turn to stare at her in disbelief.

Looking at Thalia I noticed for the first time that she actually looked younger then me. That made me happy for some unexplainable reason. Her hair was black and in a style that hung around her shoulders and barely let me see her left eye. She was wearing a red top that said "I'm more shocking then lightning." her jeans were tight and bleached white, and of course it wouldn't be Thalia without the combat boots.

I noticed I was just staring at her, looking like an idiot when Thalia cleared her throat, expecting me to explain myself. I inhaled deep and then rushed to tell my story.

"Its not like something I can help." I continued talking before Thalia even tried to challenge me on that fact. "I'm not literally spiking his drinks or anything like that. Its me physically that's poisoning him. My very presence is killing Percy...is killing everyone. Thalia it's not my fault. I can't help it but I really,_ really _wish I could. You have no idea how much I hate myself...for what I'm doing. For what I can't stop doing..." I couldn't keep talking about this. It was one thing to think it to myself, but a completely different thing to say it out loud and hear how true it was.

Thalia was silent. She wouldn't look into my eyes and I knew for a fact that she knew what I was saying was true. She could hear the honesty in my voice.

And for some reason that made me really mad. I have always hated how people wouldn't believe me when I said something, but now I found myself wishing she wouldn't believe a single word that I was saying. I didn't want her to know about the awful things that I did, the awful things that I couldn't help doing. Unfortunately I could see in her eyes that she trusted the words that I was speaking.

"Your presence..." she began. It seemed she couldn't quite wrap her head around the subject of me hurting everybody around me. But then I saw something in her eyes that told me she understood. "You're the son of Hades...the son of death itself. So...you make others die...by just being near them..." she finished the end of her sentence almost as a question, as if she was praying for me to correct her and say something like "oh no don't be silly! That's not what I meant at all!" but unfortunately that's exactly what I meant.

I waited to answer until Thalia finally looked at me.

"Like I said...I can't help it. But now you understand why I had to punch Percy."

Me reminding her how I had hit Percy seemed to spark some sense into her. Her eyes turned from scared and confused to mad.

"No actually I still don't understand why you had to hit him! Isn't killing him enough?" she snapped.

I could see in her eyes that she regretted what she said as soon as the words left her mouth, but I knew they were also the exact words she was thinking. She thought I was a monster. The thought of that made me feel sick to my stomach.

"Nico I'm so-" Thalia began before I cut her off by holding up my pointer finger.

"Don't." I said. "You're right. But you also don't understand. I'm a monster, but I don't want to be one. That's why I hit him. I have to get Annabeth and Percy mad at me so they stay away from me. If I don't its only a matter of time before they_ both_ die. Hitting Percy was wrong, yeah I know that, but it was the only thing I could think of to make sure they didn't try to come near me. Thalia you have to understand me when I say this; I only hit him to protect them. After they have protected me for so long, how could I just stand around and kill them?"

I finished my little speech in a rush, trying to force her to understand what I was saying. After I had opened up my mind and said the words that I thought would kill me to a girl I hardly knew, I was sure that if Thalia didn't understand me, or didn't believe me, I would become a very, _very _depressed son of Hades.

It didn't take Thalia long to decide on how to react to my story. She looked somewhat relieved to find out my reasoning was so simple. I wished I could feel the way she felt.

Thalia stood up and reached one hand down to help me up. As I slowly accepted her offer, she launched into explaining her thoughts on the subject of me being an unintentional murderer.

"Well your story sounds right enough...how long have you known?" she made her question sound innocent enough, but behind it I could hear the obvious curiosity.

And the obvious tone that she was testing me. She wanted to make sure I hadn't known for a long while that I was to blame for Percy's illness and that I wasn't killing him on purpose. Gods that made me mad.

"I suspected for about a month, but only really was sure when Annabeth and I learned that Percy was..." I didn't know why but I couldn't get myself to finish my sentence and say Percy was dying. Instead I continued on like nothing happened. "As soon as I found out though, I started to distance myself from them. Annabeth was of course offended so she made it her job to find out what was wrong with me and somehow attempt fix it. For the past two weeks she has been following me like a hell hound. I keep avoiding her but today in the dinning hall she finally caught up to me. Of course it didn't make matters better that she had Percy with her..."

Thalia was silent for a moment, processing and considering what she heard. We had stopped walking not even ten yards from were we had started. We had walked off the small path and into the green forest and now we stood under a large pine tree. The night was getting darker so I guessed it was around eight. I wasn't uncomfortable in the night and I doubted Thalia was either.

Thalia was a hunter. She was lieutenant for Artemis herself. There was a weird aura that always surrounded her, making it known that she was blessed by the goddess. Thalia had joined the hunt about five yours ago. I hadn't known her well then so I didn't care much. My sister had died just one year before Thalia entered the hunt so I thought she was dead as soon as she accepted the offer. While accepting the offer, Thalia got many things for exchanging just one. She was given the power to be immortal and live forever, and also the support of a goddess and friends. The one thing she had to exchange was boys. Artemis was one of the goddess's that had sworn off males, so all of her hunters were expected to do the same.

As I had stated before, I had absolutely no luck.

It was here standing in the forest that I realized why I had told Thalia, daughter of Zeus and hunter of Artemis, everything that I couldn't tell anybody else. I didn't tell her because I had to get it off my chest, like I had suspected, and I didn't tell her because I thought she would listen. I told Thalia because I was starting to like her, and starting to trust her.

I know that must sound very strange considering I had just met her for the first time in a couple of years, but I couldn't shake the feeling of connection I was getting with her.

I looked at Thalia again and realized she had finished thinking about what I had said and was now looking at me in a questioning way.

"What?" I asked.

Thalia hesitated, almost like she was embarrassed to say what she was about to say. "Nothing, it's just...you were kinda zoned out for a while. What were you thinking about?"

There was obviously no way in my fathers palace that I was going to say how I was thinking about how I was starting to like her and having visions of us eloping together, so instead I said something that I thought she would believe and understand. "Percy."

As I suspected, understanding flooded her expression. But there was something else in her features. Disappointment? I couldn't tell because the look left as soon as I had noticed it.

To be quite bold, this sucked. I hadn't had a crush on anybody in my whole life and now suddenly I liked the one person I knew I couldn't have. My life kept getting better and better.

**Thalia Grace:**

Crap I was in trouble.

All my life I had only had one crush: Luke. He was nice when we were kids running from monsters, but when he turned into a monster himself I had completely lost interest. When I had said that I would join the hunt and never love a boy again, I had thought I wasn't giving up much.

Now standing next to Nico I learned that I was wrong to not listen to Aphrodite when she tried to warn me about the difficulties of not falling in love.

It wasn't like I loved him, because I can honestly say I didn't – yet. But I was afraid for the first time in many months. I was afraid that one day I might love him, and afraid that that 'one day' was going to come sooner than I hoped.

So what could I do?

An answer came to me. I could ignore him.

I could go to Annabeth and Percy and hang out with them. They would understand that Nico was being weird and I wouldn't have to tell them Nico's story. I would stay away from Nico until it was time for my hunters and I to leave. I hated the idea but knew it was what I was going to do.

Looking up at Nico I saw that he was staring off into space again. Last time when I had asked what he was thinking about, I had hoped he would say he was thinking about me in some way, but it turned out he was thinking about Percy. I stifled a sigh. My goddess I was in trouble.

Just then, in the distance a tree branch stirred in an invisible wind.

How could I have been so stupid? It was almost completely black outside now and everybody knew the forests at camp had monsters in them.

Nico's head snapped up at the same time mine had and we looked at each other for a second.

I could see in his eyes that he understood what was happening and I saw he understood I knew also. He shifted his eyes to a space that was behind me and I new he saw the monster that was about to attack us.

The adrenaline of the upcoming fight got Nico moving before me. He was already in front of me, speaking a chant to the forest floor.

Soon an army of rodents and bird skeletons rose from the ground. I glanced at Nico and found that he looked perfectly fine and he was standing straight. He didn't look like he was about to pass out. It seems that Nico had been practicing. He met my eyes for a small moment and I let myself smile at him in an impressed way.

Stupid, stupid girl.

His answering smile was brief and again his eyes shifted to the space behind me-and then widened.

I was too slow to turn. I hadn't even opened my shield. That's how distracted I was just by being near Nico. I turned to meet a twenty foot scorpion that had its tail up and ready for a strike.

His tail whipped faster forward then any lightning bolt I could summon. Before I could even think to move, the scorpion's tale was puncturing my midsection and I was on the ground withering in pain. I faintly herd Nico call my name once, but then everything went black.


	3. Partner Soul

**Thalia Grace:**

I woke up on the forest floor with Nico standing over me. He didn't look scared or alarmed. His face showed absolutely no emotion. He bent down to kneel and placed a hand on my favorite shirt that I now found was ripped. Dang.

"Do you mind?" Nico asked. I noticed that for the first time he was showing emotion in his face. He looked embarrassed.

And then I noticed what he was talking about. He was wondering if I minded if he lifted my shirt and checked my wound. I felt my cheeks color a deep red.

Heck yes I minded!

I ignored him and tried to sit up, and was grateful when Nico didn't try to help me. He backed away as I tried to stand, but quickly grabbed me when I stumbled. He looked really apologetic as he said, "I really think I should take a look."

And so I lay back on the ground and let him lift my shirt to show my midsection. His hands were cold and I tried desperately not to think about the way they felt on my bleeding skin.

Instead I let my mind wander on the area that surrounded us.

The first thing that I noticed was that there was no scorpion. The skeletons were not gone, but they were lying on the ground unmoving. There was no wind blowing and the night had cooled down to a comfortable temperature.

When I couldn't stand it anymore, I looked at Nico.

He had his head bent and both of his hands were on my stomach. He was chanting again.

But this time when he stopped, no rodent skeletons grew from the dirt. He did however look very pale, unlike last time. This time when he stopped chanting I felt a jolt go through me. "What did you do?!" I demanded. It really hurt. I felt like a bon fire was burning in my midsection. An endless flame that was heating my insides to a toasty four thousand degrees. At that moment I wished the scorpion tail was still in me. The pain of the bug was a noticeably amount less.

And then the bon fire turned to an ice waterfall and I shivered. "What did you do?" I asked again. I was back to normal and I felt amazing. I felt ten times better then I did before the scorpion attacked me. I felt for the first time in my life like I was complete.

Nico let out a long breath that he had been holding-and smiled. I could almost read what he was thinking. He was happy he saved me. And I could also see in his eyes and expression that he thought he was lucky he had saved me too. He didn't know if it would work.

"I gave you some soul."

At first I didn't understand what he meant, and then I remembered what I had asked. That's how he fixed me? He gave me some...soul?

Nico could tell that I obviously did not understand, so naturally he rescued me - again, by explaining to me what he had meant.

"Me, being the son of death and all, well, I have a lot of souls in my body. I carry them you could say. So when I felt you dying just now from the scorpion sting, I could tell you needed a healthier soul to survive. So I gave you some of one. I'm sorry it hurt you so much though..."

Nico trailed off and I could tell he was nerves to find out what my reaction would be to this. How should I react? To myself there was only one emotion inside of me, and I was sure it wasn't what he expected.

I was happy. I felt so good and..._Right._ I felt perfect in every way. I knew whoever's soul Nico had given me was a great person before they died. I knew I wouldn't ever feel the same without their soul with mine again.

So of course I did exactly what Nico wasn't expecting. I jumped up off the dirty ground and hugged him. He didn't hug me back, but I had a weird feeling like I knew he really wanted to.

I asked the question that was on the tip of my tongue, "who's soul did you give me?"

Nico looked thrown off course with this question. Like he already expected me to know. Like he was afraid once I found out, I would demand him to give me the hug back. He lightly held both of my shoulders at arms length and looked me straight in the eyes. "Thalia, I gave you some of my soul."

Wow I was slow today. I could blame it on the fact that I had had an emotionally bad day with finding out Nico was responsible for Percy's dying, and also how in the same hour I had betrayed my goddess and started to like a boy, and oh yeah, I got attacked by a really big bug.

But if I was being honest with myself I knew that it denial that was keeping me from understanding the truth. About everything.

I was mostly in denial about Nico giving me his soul. How could that be?

But of course it made sense.

Ever since he had given me some of his soul, it was almost like I could feel his emotions and know when what he said was true.

But why had I felt so happy after he had given it to me? So right? So complete?

But of course I knew that answer already.

Not even an hour ago I had been worrying about falling in love with Nico Di Angelo in a couple of months, and here I was, the same day, in love with the guy.

**Nico Di Angelo**

Thalia and I were both silent for a long time.

Thalia I'm sure was thinking about how to yell at me for giving her some of my soul, but me on the other hand couldn't be happier.

It worked.

That single thought kept jumping around on the inside of my head.

It worked. It worked. It worked.

I couldn't believe it. Not even with Thalia standing strong and straight in front of me could I believe that it worked.

Never again could I say that I wasn't lucky, because what I had just done had required a lot of luck.

The problem with giving somebody a soul that wasn't their own was that it hardly ever takes. And when it doesn't take, death is immediate. For both parties included.

So I had figured I had nothing to lose by trying to save Thalia by giving her some of my soul. I had thought she was going to die from the scorpion sting anyway so it hadn't mattered. Me being gone would have helped people more than hurt them.

So I wasn't expecting it to work.

But because it worked I knew a couple of things:

1) My soul would always be with Thalia. From the moment I saved her by giving her some of it I had allowed her to know everything about me. The part of me that was with her would warn her when I was lying or when I was sad or even when I was in trouble.

2) The second thing I knew was that if Thalia died then so would I. Because I had given so much of my soul to her it would be impossible for me to survive if she were dead.

3) The last thing I knew was making it hard not to smile. Sure she was alive, but because I'm a selfish guy, that of course was only second place on the list of reasons for why I was happy. First place was the fact that _it had worked_. And that could only mean one thing: Thalia Grace and I were soul mates.


	4. Complications

**Hey guys! thanks for the lovely reviews, keep it up!**

**enjoy this chapter :3**

* * *

**Nico di Angelo:**

Thalia and I stood staring at each other for what seemed like hours. Of course however it was only a few seconds, maybe a whole minute, but that wasn't really the point.

_It worked. _

The words still refused to make any sense to me. As a result, they kept bouncing around inside my head, every once in a while threatening to escape through my lips.

_And we're soul mates._

This new sentence added to the already existing one in my head. In my chest a rock band drummer was pounding away on my heart, making its beat faster than I thought was possible. Faster than any boy who spends more time with the dead than the living's heart should ever beat.

And I loved every second of it.

I was alive for the first time in my life. This girl, this beautiful, free spirited, electric girl managed to breathe life into a dead man, and I…Was… _Alive_.

All of this went through my mind in a flash, a mad blur that was difficult to comprehend. All the while I thought about it, I stood in the now moonlit forest staring into Thalia's eyes. She stared back with a look of wonder and slight confusion painted on her face.

When she spoke, my heart, although it seemed a moment before impossible, sped up to an even quicker pace.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.

When I opened my mouth to respond, the words that had been threatening to escape my lips finally did. "It worked." I answered lamely. "And we're - "

No! I stopped myself midsentence. I wasn't sure why, but telling Thalia that we were soul mates didn't feel right. It would be like forcing something onto her, something that she perhaps didn't want any part of.

Of course she didn't want any part of it. My feelings, my love for this girl could never be returned. Not when she took an oath swearing that they wouldn't. There was no way she felt the same for me and I knew it. I just knew it.

My heart and my spirit died together, leaving only dejected, life sucking black holes in their wake.

So my mind was made up. I would not tell Thalia about us being soul mates. And so what? There was no reason for why I should. It would only confuse her. She loved being a hunter. I didn't have a chance in the world that she would somehow love a guy, let alone me, more than she loved immortality and guaranteed acceptance.

_But what about me?_ The selfish part of me was asking. _What about what _I _want? I want _her_. I need _her_. She's life…_

No. The word was a command to myself, an order I would follow. I would not tell Thalia that we were soul mates.

"I swear on the River Styx." I murmured in a low voice, careful to make sure Thalia didn't hear.

"What?" her razor sharp senses missed nothing.

"Nothing," I replied quickly. "I was just answering your question. My response is_, it worked and we're alive_." The answer was convincing enough and I mentally high-fived myself for the fast thinking.

"Are you okay? You looked fine a minute ago, but now you look sort of…_glum_." Did I mention Thalia missed nothing?

And she was absolutely correct. I _was_ glum. I was willing to put myself through hell (and trust me, I know hell) just to keep Thalia happy. There was no way she loved me, so why should I force my feelings onto her in a way that would only result in her feeling uncomfortable?

Yes, I was very glum.

But I lied again smoothly. "No, I'm fine. But I really think we should get out of here. You know, just in case that scorpion had a friend."

My response, as I had hoped, cleared away all doubt and left only a slight panicked look to her face. "Yeah we should definitely get out of here."

* * *

**Thalia Grace:**

Nico was hiding something.

Don't ask me how I know, because I'm not even sure myself. It's like a gut feeling that I'm sure is right.

We were walking back to camp when I realized this. Since Nico gave me some of his soul I could somehow tell his emotions. In a weird way the whole "soul transfer" thing was a lot like Grover's and Percy's empathy link.

Anyway, we were walking back to camp and I kept wondering to myself, _how can I have a secret that I'm hiding from myself and not know what it is?_ But of course I couldn't. With a shock (literally) I realized what it must mean.

I didn't have a secret, but Nico did.

And he was hell bent against telling me what it was.

This last thought made me sad. I had begun to think…well I had begun to think that maybe Nico felt how I was beginning to feel. Begun to maybe view us as possibly more than friends. But obviously I was wrong. Secrets don't make relationships.

_Good, _I thought fiercely. There was no need to get in any deeper than I already was. Anything more would be dangerous.

I stole a sideways glance at Nico who was walking next to me. There was about three feet of space in between us and I had a feeling that maybe he had done that on purpose. As Nico walked, shadows from trees and shrubs that were casted from the moons light defied the laws of nature in order to embrace Nico as he passed. Darkness pooled at his feet and nearby flowers began to wither and die. He must have felt my stare on him because he looked up and met my eyes.

Woah.

Never again would I think of brown eyes the same. Before I had thought that they were plain. A muddy color that unfortunate people had to wear on their eyes.

But not Nico's color brown. His brown was so dark it was almost black. They showed unnatural depth for the usual standard. They were mysterious and alluring and all together gorgeous. Looking at him, how his pitch black hair made it evident that his eyes were in fact not the same shade but instead a dark brown, my breath caught somewhere in my throat.

Nico broke our gaze by turning his head sharply to face forward again.

_Great. This is just fabulous._ I thought to myself. I'm contemplating if Nico's eyes are the most beautiful things I've seen in the world and he can't even look at me. _Great_.

I sighed. Being a teenager seriously sucked.

* * *

**Nico di Angelo:**

By the gods her eyes were beautiful. I had to mentally slap myself about 200 times before I gained enough control over myself to turn my head away.

When I did eventually accomplish the difficult feat, Thalia sighed.

Hope burned like a fire in my heart. Could she possibly be wishing I hadn't turned my head away? But no, that was unlikely. It was more plausible that she wanted to get out of this forest. I was sure that I was making her very uncomfortable.

I had felt Thalia's stare earlier and noticed that she had taken note on how the darkness reacted towards me. Whereas Thalia got to summon lightning bolts and shed its light on everything, I got to gather shadows and kill pretty flowers.

My life seriously sucked.

Finally, after it seemed like we walked a thousand miles in silence, the trees broke and we were able to see the camp. Still not speaking, we entered the grounds and began to walk to our separate cabins. Hades, my father, has a cabin that is placed directly to the left of Zeus's, with Poseidon's on the right. Thalia, although she was a daughter of Zeus, sleeps with her hunters in cabin eight. I watched as she crossed the camp ground and leaped up the steps and through the front door of the Artemis cabin.

She didn't glance back once.

With a sigh of my own, I sat down on my porch steps, not willing to expend the effort it took to climb them and enter my cabin.

I was physically and emotionally drained. Transferring part of my soul into Thalia's body had exhausted me along with what the experience made me discover.

But I didn't regret what I did. Not for a second. Because it was the only way to save her, I knew I would never regret it. She would be dead without some of her soul mates soul. Some of _my _soul. My soul could save her from death.

My breathing froze in my throat. A shiver ran down my spine. The idea had danced across my brain in a flash, but it wasn't gone before I caught it.

It might not even work.

But I had to try. Together we would try.

Because I'm pretty sure I just figured out how to save Percy Jacksons life.

* * *

**Mwuahahahaha! what a cliff hanger!**

**Please leave your thoughts and opinions on the chapter as a review! thanks so much!**


	5. Attempts

**Another chapter! Whoop! Enjoy guys :3**

* * *

**Nico di Angelo:**

I was up and running across the camp ground before a frightened satyr could drop his enchilada. Long forgotten was my exhaustion. In its place was a hope so fierce that it threatened to overwhelm me.

Moving faster than I have in my entire life, I was up and pounding on the silver gray door of the Athena cabin in about two seconds flat. Before my fist met the door for a fourth time, the handle was yanked back and I was met with just the pair of gray eyes I wanted to see.

"Annabeth," I sighed in relief. Thank the gods.

He face shifted between different emotions when she saw who was attempting to break down her cabin door with a first. Confusion, relief, sadness, pain, hurt, and finally, the emotion it settled on. Anger.

"What do you think you're doing?" her voice came out clipped and harsh. Okay, maybe anger wasn't a strong enough word. Rage might be more appropriate.

"Percy - " I began, but was immediately halted by the glare she gave me. When Annabeth spoke again, her voice was low and warning me that I was approaching a mine field.

"Percy?" she whispered. "You mean you remember him? I was sure you must have forgotten everything. His name, his face, what he's done for you, _what he still does for you_. Because surely there was _no_ way in Hades that you could remember all of that and still punch him. No way." As she continued to talk her voice got louder, turning from scary to terrifying. She stepped closer to me as she spoke and when she was finished she was inches from my face.

"Annabeth listen - " I tried to begin again.

"No you listen di Angelo!" screaming. Annabeth was screaming at me. "If you ever touch Percy again with the intention of hurting him I swear on the River Styx - "

"Annabeth!" I couldn't tell her my idea if she didn't stop yelling for two seconds. We were wasting so much time…

" – no god or goddess will be able to save you! Do you hear me?" Annabeth continued to rant. "I don't care who your daddy is and I don't care - "

"Annabeth I think I can save Percy!" I yelled, cutting through her voice like butter.

My words had the effect that I wanted. Annabeth froze in place, not even continuing to yell about more things that she didn't care about.

But then she did something that I didn't expect her to do.

Annabeth fell to her knees and began to cry.

* * *

After I calmed her down enough so we could talk, I began to explain my idea.

I told her about how souls could be transferred between bodies. How sometimes, in rare cases, a healthy soul is able to heal a weaker or sick soul. I explained how transferring souls was painful and nine out of ten times fatal. Then I asked a question that had the ability to ruin my whole idea to save Percy.

"Annabeth…" I began hesitantly, "Do you think…do you believe you and Percy are soul mates?"

Annabeth met my eyes for a minute and then surprised me for the second time tonight. She bowed her head slightly and let a chuckle escape her lips.

"You need to be soul mates in order for the whole "soul transferring" thing to work, correct?" Annabeth guessed and then sighed. She was too smart for her own good. I couldn't keep information from her if I tried, so with a sigh, I admitted she was right. "I love Percy with all my heart." Annabeth answered and then finally lifted her head to meet my eyes. "Can I tell you a story Nico? An old Greek 'Myth' if you will?"

Before I could respond Annabeth continued. We didn't have time for story time. I just needed to know, _was she confident her and Percy were soul mates_? So confident that she would bet her life? But Annabeth began the story anyway.

"Long, long ago Zeus created a man. But this man wasn't like any other man, you see. This man had two mouths, and four eyes, and two noses, and four ears, and four arms and legs. This man was powerful and strong and for that the gods feared him. One day, the man's power became too much. Zeus himself came to earth to destroy the man. With the fatal arch of a sword, the man was split right down the middle of his body. But no, the man was not killed. For the rest of his life, the two pieces searched for each other. These two pieces were called soul mates." Annabeth paused, then gathered herself to finish. "Nico…Percy _is_ my other half. He's my soul mate. A life without him is pointless, like wondering around in search for something that isn't there. I'll save him or you can guarantee that I'll die trying."

I looked into her eyes and could tell that she meant it. Annabeth truly believed that she and Percy were soul mates. With a slight smile I reached for Annabeth's hand and gave it a light squeeze.

"Well then let's go see if we can save your boyfriend."

* * *

Annabeth and I crossed the camp ground to Percy's cabin in a daze. We had sat on the porch of the Athena cabin for maybe an hour discussing chances and ideas and Greek myths. In the end however, only Annabeth's statement that reassured Nico that her and Percy were indeed soul mates had mattered. All the while when they were on the porch, no other campers had left their cabin to investigate the noise. Not during the screaming match, not even during story time. Demigods sure were heavy sleepers.

Annabeth jumped up the stairs of cabin number three with ease. It seemed like she had visited a lot, which of course she did. She didn't even hesitate at the door but instead pushed it open and continued on to a figure that was stretched out under a thin blanket on the bed.

"Percy," Annabeth whispered, shaking his shoulders slightly. "Percy wake up."

I stifled a laugh. No way. "He drools in his sleep?" I asked before I could stop myself.

Annabeth smiled and said, "Pretty cute, huh? He's done it for as long as I've known him."

Not my definition of cute, but okay.

After a few more attempts Annabeth finally succeeded in the difficult task of waking Percy Jackson.

"Annabeth? Are you okay? What's going on?" Percy asked in quick secession, not allowing any time for Annabeth to respond.

"Percy this is urgent. Nico thinks he has an idea for how to save you." Annabeth explained.

Percy looked confused for a moment but then seemed to notice I was standing to the left of Annabeth. "Nico?" Percy asked, a slight yet definite hint of hope in his no-longer-sleepy voice. "You think you can save me?"

* * *

After I had once again explained my idea, this time with the help of Annabeth, I didn't ask questions. The way Percy glanced at Annabeth every few seconds to check to see that she was still okay, or the way he rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand allowed me the information I needed. Of course these two were soul mates. To even ask them to confirm it would be an insult to their relationship.

Percy and Annabeth were sitting on Percy's bed while I sat cross legged on the floor facing them. When most of it was explained and Percy agreed that it was worth a try, I asked him and Annabeth to both stand up.

When I say most of it was explained to Percy, I mean Annabeth and I had left out a major detail. We had decided on the Athena cabin porch that we would not include the detail that if the soul transferring didn't work, Annabeth would die along with Percy in a time much sooner than what should be. Our reasoning was simple behind leaving out this information: If Percy had known, he never would have allowed Annabeth to risk herself in order to save him.

"Are you ready?" I asked. They both nodded. Neither of them looked as nerves as I felt. "Percy, bend over please." Now Percy looked absolutely terrified.

"Uh…excuse me?" Percy asked. He hadn't moved to get into the position I asked.

"Percy c'mon man. I need to access your Achilles weakness, which happens to be the small of your back, correct?" I didn't wait for a reply. "So bend over and give me the best access. I would have you stand up but I think this is going to hurt a lot. You might as well start already hunched up so the connection isn't lost part way through because of you falling over." I explained quickly.

Very reluctantly it seemed, Percy slowly bent over.

"Good. Now show me the exact spot where your Achilles weakness is please." I asked.

"This is so weird, dude." Percy complained as he pulled my hand along his lower back.

"Shut up." Was my intelligent reply.

Once I had pin pointed Percy's exact Achilles weakness I asked for Annabeth's hand. When Percy demanded to know why, I sighed but calmly explained.

"I'm going to be creating a channel between you guys so Annabeth's soul can travel to yours. I'm going to be like the bridge Annabeth's soul needs to cross to get to your body."

"Oh." Was all Percy had to say in reply.

Now comes the hard part.

With Annabeth's hand in mine and two fingers placed directly over Percy's Achilles weakness, I began to chant. Don't ask me what I was saying, because honestly I'm not sure. I don't even know where the words come from. It's kind of like how Percy can control water. You get a tug in your gut and you suddenly just _know_ what to do.

And so I followed my instincts and just went with it. I felt Annabeth's soul meet with Percy's. I felt Percy's soul begin to strengthen. I could feel Annabeth's strong soul beginning to clean and disinfect Percy's unhealthy one. Soon the poison was gone and Percy was whole and healthy again. I began to withdraw the current connecting Percy and Annabeth, not wanting to leave it opened and exposed.

This is when things began to go wrong.

Annabeth crumpled onto the ground with no warning. Another part of me, a part that could recognize how strong a person's life source was beginning to signal that Annabeth was at deaths door. Simultaneously, Percy's body reacted in the same way.

No. No, it wasn't possible.

They were so sure. They knew they were soul mates.

They had to be.

So then why were they both dying?

* * *

**Oh wow. that's just cruel. Who would stop the chapter there?!**

**oh yeah...me 3 (::) (::) (::) Feel better & eat some cookies.**

**Stay tuned for more twists and turns! **

**Review if you liked it, review if you didn't. I don't care!**

**Please and thank you!**

**P.s - i'm a die hard percebeth fan. no way in Hades am I killing them.**


	6. Sea and cry

**Thalia Grace:**

To say I'm a heavy sleeper is probably understatement of the year.

And when I say probably, I mean it definitely is.

You can imagine than how shocked I was to wake up mere seconds after I had finally managed to catch some Z's. Usually I'm dead to the world the moment my head meets pillow, but tonight I was woken up by rather unusual means.

No not by someone, but by some_thing._

An awful something too. An awful, gut wrenching, physically painful something had me waking up in cabin eight, gasping for breath and covering my heart with my flat palm. A sadness and fear so deep that it left me reeling and had me curled in on myself, sobbing into my fists.

In three quick strides I was pushing open the door to cabin eight and jumping down its porch steps.

My god's, what was wrong with me?

_I need fresh air._ _I need to relax. I need to stop freaking hiccupping like an idiot and get a hold of myself._ My feet carried me on their own accord to the beach. I stood in the night breeze, basking in the moons glow, trying to remember how to breathe properly.

What in Hades was that all about? I don't lose control. Not like that, not me.

Next to the oceans wake my voice seemed louder, almost like the ocean didn't want my sobs and was trying to push them back to me, its owner.

My god's, what was wrong with me? I asked myself again, only this time, demanding an answer.

I was startled when I received one.

_Nothing's wrong._

And it was true. Nothing _was_ wrong. I felt fine.

Okay, excluding the fact that I was sobbing like a hormonal teenager for no reason. But really, I felt fine.

My sobbing and hiccupping stopped just as soon as it had begun.

I knew what this meant. I had experienced this sort of confusion once before in my life, only a few hours earlier.

How could I have been so _stupid_? No, of course there was nothing wrong with me. But there was something terribly, terribly wrong with Nico di Angelo.

* * *

After I had stopped sobbing it was rather easy to figure out why my cries had seemed so loud next to the ocean. It wasn't for the reasons I had thought, but instead it was because I simply wasn't crying alone.

Newly silent, I was able to pinpoint the source of the noise.

And that's when a new sob started to build in my chest.

Because when I looked around, it was clear to me that the source of the heartbroken cries of Nico di Angelo were coming from cabin number three.

Why would the son of death be in cabin number three? Because Percy Jackson had just died.

* * *

**Wow, long time no update. **

**My apologies my dears, I'm trying my best not to lose interest in this story.**

**Because this chapter was MEGA short, i'll be uploading another tonight I think. maybe. who knows?**

**Cheers!**

**oh, and remember what I said about not killing off percabeth? I'm thinking maybe the story would be better if I did...**

**comment your ideas or they're dead! thanks a bunch fruit punch**


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